Garment hanger



July 7, 1925. 1,545,049

R. H. GILKERSON GARMENT HANGER Filed Feb. 1, 1924 Patented July 7, 1925.

; UNITED STATES FATE NT 0 FF 1 C E.

ROLAND I-I. GILKERSON, 0F VJA'IERTOVJN, WISCONSIN, ASSIG'NOR OFONE-FOURTH TO SOLOIVION D. GILKERSON, ONE-FOURTH E0 JOHN W. BRENNAN, ANDONE-FOURTH TO FREDERICK BITTNER, ALL OF VJATERTOWN, WISCONSIN.

GARMENT -I-IAENGER.

Application filed February 1, 1924, Serial No. 689,993.

To all whom z'tmary canoe rm Be it known that I, ROLAND H. GILK'ER- soN,a citizen of the United States, and resident of Watertown, in the countyof Jefferson and State of VJisconsin, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements inGa-rment Hangers; and i do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear,and exact description thereof.

=My invention refers to garment hangers, and has for its primary objectto provide a hanger of simple construction with means whereby thegarment being supported is firmly held in place but readily detachablefrom the hanger by a simple manual operation.

The particular object of my invention is to provide a hanger, as abovereferred to, for the purpose of supporting and displaying delicategarments, such for example as silk waists or the like. Practice hasdemonstrated that light weight delicate silk garments tend to slipreadily upon the standard type of hanger, and under the slightestdisturbance, they will drop from the hanger and frequently be seriouslydamaged by dust or dirt. It is also manifest that where a hanger of thegeneral type referred to above is used and the garment is in effectlocked thereon, it will not only hold the garment smoothly and preventdamage, but it will also serve to prevent frequent theft, as it is acommon practise for shop lifters or the like to slip delicate garmentsquickly from the hanger and conceal them.

In my device this cannot be effected until a manual operation is madefor releasing the garment from said hangerQ With the above and otherobjects in View,

the invention resides in the novel construction, combination andarrangement of parts substantially as hereinafter described and moreparticularly defined by the appended claim, it being understood thatsuch changes in the precise embodiment of the herein disclosed inventionmay be made as come within the scope of the claim.

In the drawing, the single figure illustrates a side elevation of oneform of hanger exemplifying my invention, parts being broken away and insection to more clearly illustrate the structural features.

Referring by characters to the drawings 1 represents the bow of astandard wood garment hanger, and 2the centrally disposed hanger hook.

The bow is provided with a pair of'bearing apertures 3-3 arrangedparallel with the hanger hook shank and positioned at equal distancestherefrom. These bearing apertures serve as guides for plunger rods H;the upper ends of which rods are folded over above the top face of thebow and thereby form finger extensions which are arranged substantiallyparallel with the top surface of the bow, .and which lingers extend apredetermined distance from the ends of the bow, as shown. The lingerextensions are preferably jacketed by sections of rubber hose 6-6 orsome analogous soft gripping surface which will not injure the garmentcarried by the hanger.

The arms 4 4. at their lower ends are gently curved and merge into ahorizontally disposed gripping bar 7. The arms and gripping bar 7 which,as previously described, are in one piece with the fingers, have mountedthereon a coil spring 8, the upper ends of which coil spring engages thelower surface of the bow, and that portion of the coil spring whichsurrounds the gripping bar is encased with the sleeve 9, the same beingloosely mounted upon said coil spring. This arrangement of one piececoil spring will permit the maximum resiliency of said spring due to thefact that when said coil spring is compressed by manual operationwhereby the fingers are freed from contact with the upper surface of thehow, the entire length of coil spring will simultaneously act and willcontact and expand in its action throughout both the length of the armsand the gripping bar.

From the foregoing description, it will be understood that when it isdesired to affix a garment such as a waist or the like to the hanger,the waist is suspended in the ordinary manner and, prior to itssuspension upon the bow, the operator grasps with the finger of one handthe top portion of the bow and the sleeve about the gripping bar. Bycompressing these two parts, it will be seen that the fingers, whichconstitute grips, will move a predetermined distance away from theassociated surface of the bow, whereby the garment can be convenientlyarranged thereupon, and after such arrangement, upon release of thegripping bar, the

spring will cause the fingers or grips to assume their normal grippingengagement with relation to the top suriace oi the bow,

whereby the garment is firmly held in posi-t tion. It will, therefore beseen that the garment cannot be disengaged from its locked relation tothe bow until a manual operation is performed to release the fingers orgrips. The release of the grips, as previously stated, is effected withone hand while the party displaying the garment can conveniently suspendthe same by holding the hanger hook with the fingers of the other hand.

\Vliile I have shown and described one exemplification of my invention,it is understoodthat I may vary the construction of the inventionindefinitely within the knowledge of the skilled mechanic, withoutdeparting from the spirit of my invention, and it is manifest that inplace of utilizing a woodon how, as shown, a wire substitute can asreadily be employed. Furthermore, it is understood that the particularform of grips or fingers may be varied, as for example these fingers maybe formed from an integral fiat spring fastened to the center of the barin which event the plunger rods would be separate elements but wouldoperate in the same way to lift the spring tensioned fingers or gripssimultaneously.

I claim:

A garment hanger comprising a bow having a pair of spaced aperturesadjacent its central portion, a pair of gripping arms 1o cat-ed upon theupper side of said how and conforming thereto, vertical portionsintegral with said arms passing through said apertures and integrallyjoined below said bow by a horizontal portion, a coiled spring looselysurrounding said vertical portions and said horizontal portion andhearing at its ends against the under side of said bow, and a sleevemounted upon the horizontal portion and loosely surrounding a portion ofsaid spring.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing 1 l have hereunto set my hand atWatertown in the county of Jefferson and State of \Visconsin.

ROLAND H. GILKERSON.

